A snapshot of bike and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 11 March 2022. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — NO END IN SIGHT
The past week began with global stocks tumbling and the world’s main exchanges deeply in the red. The prospect of more sanctions on Russia drove up the price of key commodities like oil, gas, wheat, nickel and copper, and supply chains continued to decay. Trading decisions veered all over the place on a daily basis.
Accumulated losses for market indices in New York suffered only temporary relief from bargain hunters. Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed respectively 2.9% and 2% in arrears. S&P’s MidCap 400 was 1.7% down for a second consecutive week.
HOGOMETER
Harley-Davidson’s roller-coaster ride was typical. On Monday, its share price plunged by 6% to $36.61. Then speculators piled in to “buy the dip”, resulting in 1.7% recovery on Tuesday and a stronger 4.9% increase on Wednesday. Midweek investor fatigue ensued, though, with smaller incremental losses returning — 0.7% on Thursday and 0.8% on Friday. Escape from the 30-buck zone doesn’t look imminent.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 38.51 | -1.1% | -7.7% |
| Polaris Industries | 106.44 | -9.6% | -11.8% |
| Textron | 69.19 | -2.9% | -0.7% |
EUROPE — BRIEF OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Looking for bargains brought the European sell-off to a temporary halt too and market indices flipped dramatically for a couple of days. In Germany, Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax turned the previous week’s horrendous 10.1% spanking into a 4.1% gain. And Milan’s MIB index in Italy performed a similar turnaround, adding 2.6% after its massive 12.8% retreat five sessions earlier. Nevertheless, monthly losses for leading automotives and motorcycle makers were still mostly grim.
Furthermore, a warning from Volkswagen supremo Herbert Diess as the weekend approached, that the Ukraine war’s impact on European economic welfare will be far greater than the Covid pandemic, is bound to scupper any vestigal confidence.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 72.42 | -0.9% | -24% |
| Volkswagen | 201.80 | +2.4% | -20.9% |
| Pierer Mobility | 79.10 | +0.4% | -11.8% |
| Piaggio Group | 2.38 | -2.9% | -17.9% |
| Energica | 3.19 | +1.3% | +0.9% |
JAPAN — NO RELIEF IN SIGHT
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index declined for a fourth successive week, sinking by 3.2%, as Japanese investors looked on in horror at the unvoidable effect of remorselessly escalating warfare in Eastern Europe on their export trade. Japan’s big-four motorcycle makers all suffered accordingly.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 3115 | -3.1% | -13.8% |
| Yamaha | 2264 | -7.2% | -18.2% |
| Suzuki | 3732 | -11.1% | -24.4% |
| Kawasaki | 2015 | -4.8% | -9% |
INDIA — DIFFERENT NARRATIVE
Indian premier Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to victory in key state elections, radically improving its chances of winning power again in India’s forthcoming general election.
With worldwide issues promptly parked on the back-burner, Mumbai’s BSE Sensex 30 market index stacked on 2.2%. Four of the five leading indigenous motorcycle manufacturers benefited from this spirit of shallow bonhomie, as their share prices recovered. Inexplicably, Royal Enfield parent Eicher missed the boat.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 2331.20 | +0.9% | -14.2% |
| Bajaj Auto | 3423.00 | +5.6% | -4% |
| TVS Motor | 581.60 | +4.8% | -11.9% |
| Eicher Motors | 2290.75 | -2.1% | -11.8% |
| Mahindra | 734.80 | +0.3% | -13.9% |
CHINA — SANCTIONS BECKON?
Suspicions that Chinese president Xi Jinping has backed the wrong horse in Russia’s bellicose stand-off against the civilised world are growing among export-led indigenous corporates and their investors, who now fear exclusion from the Western markets on which they’ve prospered.
Shanghai’s SSE Composite and the CSI 300 index covering blue-chips on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges retreated for a third week on the trot, this time falling respectively by more severe margins of 4% and 4.2%.
Across the eleven listed Chinese motorcycle producers, only one stood out, avoiding share price declines. On the contrary, Yamaha JV affiliate Linhai continued to add considerable value, suggesting that a predator has been building up its position, irrelevant of global pressures.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 12.16 | -8-3% | -11.1% |
| Zongshen | 6.10 | -6.4% | -5.4% |
| Sundiro | 2.26 | -2.2% | -3% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 14.39 | -0.8% | +4.4% |
| Lifan | 4.89 | -5.4% | -12.1% |
| Loncin | 4.43 | -5.7% | -14.3% |
| Linhai | 9.77 | +6.5% | +20% |
| Guangzhou Auto | 11.63 | -4.9% | -11.9% |
| CFMoto | 109.33 | -6.5% | -17.6% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 14.23 | -3% | -0.5% |
| Currency: HK dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Jianshe | 5.24 | -6.9% | -10.6% |